turtledovefandomcom-20200216-history
Talk:Daniel Miller
So a governor can appoint someone to fill a House vacancy after all? Turtle Fan (talk) 19:04, June 13, 2017 (UTC) :Well, shit. I've been seeing this off and on for a decade, not to mention knowing about it since I read WiH in the first place. And this is the first time I've realized the issue. :No, under the Constitution this is not possible. There must be a special election for the House. Certain state governors can select replacement or interim Senators. ::I suppose it's possible that the Constitution was changed off-stage between the PoD and GWI, though I can't imagine why. Turtle Fan (talk) 21:58, June 14, 2017 (UTC) :::Given the Remembrance period's emphasis on top-down governance and the perpetual readiness for war with the country's neighbors, I think a semi-rational argument might be that having special elections are too time consuming, particularly if the US is at war. If appointments are ok for the Senate, then they are ok for the House. We were often told that the spirit of the Constitution was suborned by Remembrance, so the fact that this sort of amendment to the Constitution would take the "People's House" away from them probably didn't come up much. :::That's how I'd ret-con, anyway. Make it the 15th or 16th Amendment. Obviously the real answer is HT screwed up and no one called him on it for 20 years. TR (talk) 17:26, June 19, 2017 (UTC) ::::We also know that the Supreme Court handed down a lot of holdings that strengthened war-readiness at the expense of other priorities. Any chance there's case law that says temporary appointments are okay while special elections are organized (with the unspoken caveat that, since House elections are held so often anyway, that very often means, practically, that appointments to fill unexpired terms are okay)? ::::Obviously the real answer is as you say. Turtle Fan (talk) 17:43, June 19, 2017 (UTC) :::::Hmm. "When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies." US Const. Art I, Sec. 2. On the surface, that doesn't leave much wiggle room. I suppose a determined court could focus on the meaning of "writ of election", and decide that so long as a governor filed a writ, he could "elect" to pick a replacement. Seems like a stretch even for Remembrance; amending would probably be cleaner, and probably a little easier than OTL. TR (talk) 19:24, June 19, 2017 (UTC) ::::::I suppose. It's such an odd thing to amend, especially since the prewar period was essentially a time of one-party rule. Why should the Dems care about such things when they were counting on huge majorities for the foreseeable future? Maybe a Democratic governor tried to appoint a Democrat to fill a vacancy in a Socialist district because he thought he could get away with it, the Court (perhaps controlled by aging Lincoln and Blaine appointments) threw it out, and the Congress rammed the amendment through as part of a pissing match? Turtle Fan (talk) 02:19, June 20, 2017 (UTC) :::::::I could see that. Something sufficiently problematic that the Dems felt like their majority national security was negatively impacted by this section of the Constitution, anyway. More vignette material if HT ever opens up 191 to fanfic or anthologies. :) TR (talk) 15:53, June 20, 2017 (UTC) :I double checked Fallout, and HT made the same mistake there. Truman says governors can appoint Representatives, but Senators must be elected, which is the reverse from reality. ::Does he? I remember it being the other way around. He does get it right in A, for what that's worth. Turtle Fan (talk) 21:58, June 14, 2017 (UTC) :Wow. TR (talk) 22:47, June 13, 2017 (UTC) ::I did wonder about that, especially since I had been watching Designated Survivor where President Jack Bauer, ahem, Kirkman faces a similar dilemma. I soon found the episodes repetitive and stopped watching before it was fully addressed. ML4E (talk) 21:35, June 15, 2017 (UTC) :::I had considered putting that on my list of shows to watch last fall, then forgot about it. Turtle Fan (talk) 02:36, June 16, 2017 (UTC) Ok, so now that know that we have an error, are we ok to include Miller over on the Inconsistencies page? TR (talk) 17:26, June 19, 2017 (UTC) :Sure. Turtle Fan (talk) 17:43, June 19, 2017 (UTC)